Grants Officer at DAI

Location: Bauchi, Gombe, Sokoto, Adamawa, and Ebonyi States of Nigeria
Start date: November 2020 – August 6, 2025

Background:
The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, saanitation and hygiene [WASH]); increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary). State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers and building on locally-derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.
Position Objectives:
The Grants Officer will provide support to the Grants Specialist in named State and/or Grants Manager in Bauchi in support of the grant implementation process of the Activity.
Responsibilities:
The Grants Officer will:

• Manage all aspects of assigned grant portfolio throughout all stages of project development, implementation and closure. Manage associated timelines and donor reporting requirements for individual grant activities. Maintain internal trackers, such as the grant status and closing trackers. Monitor grant portfolio pipeline of financial commitments and disbursements.
• Generate and review all aspects of grant agreements, including milestone schedules, with grantees.
• Generate and maintain documentation of all grants including grant agreements, grant amendments/addendums, and other grants-related documents till grants close-out and proactively identify errors and/or missing documentation to ensure compliance.
• Analyze grant budget estimates for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, and consistency.
• Work closely with the Grant Manager/Specialist to finalize and share activity concepts and proposals with USAID.
• Review and negotiate with grantee on grant budget line items and coordinate with Procurement and HR for cost verification of grant budgets.
• Schedule meetings including kickoff meetings to define roles, responsibilities, and timelines for grantees.
• Verify milestone documentation and submit deliverable approval/payment requests to the Grants Manager, COP and Finance department.
• Maintain inventory for items purchased under each grant.
• Support the full cycle of grants beginning from solicitation application review, and including pre-award assessments, monitoring/compliance visits and reporting, and close-out procedures.
• Coordinate with Communications/KM Specialist to update information in program reports and other written materials, including weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports.
• Assist Grants Manager/Specialist in preparation of weekly projections
• Perform any and all other tasks as may be assigned by the Grants Manager/Specialist in a manner that contributes to achievement of the project’s work plan and objectives.
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Reporting:
The Grants Officer will report to the Grants Specialist/Manager (depending on office location).

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, business administration, public administration, economics, or other relevant field.
• At least 6 years of experience in grants design and administration (experience with grants award and grants management as well as prior experience in the award and administration of
• subcontracts), preferably in the governance sector.
• Working knowledge of USAID Contract Management and Grants Management policies and procedures required.
• Experience implementing grant policies and procedures required.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to engage with a wide range of organizations, beneficiaries, and related parties.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work under own initiative or as a part of a team
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Fluency in one or more of the local languages spoken in the state of interest